What We Know So Far About the Supposed ‘Mother of All Data Breaches’

Data violation are so common These days, when a new one is announced, most web users can not do a little more than yawning and mumbling something like “yeah, no shit” before scrolling to the following history of their news feed. This week, however, a violation was announced which would have been SO Earth that managed to unravel the collective internet cynicism wall.

Nicknamed the “Mother of all data violations“, The violation would imply some 16 billion user identification and has an impact on a large number of accounts on platforms like Facebook, Google and Apple. The violation was initially reported by Cyber ​​News, a site that focuses on web security, and was written by The editor and assistant site researcher, Vilius Petkauskas. The story, published on Wednesday, says that violation represents “one of the greatest data violations in history”.

Petkauskas’s article describes the discovery violation as “a plethora of supermassive data sets, housing billions and billions of connection titles” which come from “social networks and corporate platforms to VPNs and developer portals”. This data comes from “30 sets of exposed data” which, according to the researchers, contains “tens of millions to more than 3.5 billion records each”. The researchers say they were able to discover the sets of data exposed due to online protections without security, although they say that the exposure was too short to determine who “controlled” the data.

“It is not only a leak – it is a plan for mass exploitation,” said researchers interviewed by the site. “With more than 16 billion connection files exposed, cybercriminals now have unprecedented access to personal identification information which can be used for taking control, identity theft and highly targeted phishing.”

The history of Cyber ​​News has been recovered by a number of points of sale for the general public, including Forbes and Axios. However, barely the news started to circulate the Internet when security professionals have started to question the claims of the article. According to criticism, Cyber ​​News is not false in itself on the number of references that have been exposed – and it is a horrible new in itself. However, some observers argue that this is not a new breach (nor a breach in the traditional sense), it is only data from a group of old breaches that have been stapled together and published online.

“To be clear, it is not a new data violation or a violation at all, and the websites involved have not been recently compromised to steal this identification information”, ” Writes the Bleeping computer.

Meanwhile, VX-Underground, an information website that publishes on malware samples found on the web, Tweeted in historyCharacterizing it as a “master of fear of 16,000,000,000 password password password password that has frightened standards and widespread disinformation”.

Unfortunately, great violations occur all the time and, because of the way in which cybercriminal underworld are structured around the sharing of stolen data, many of these breaches are exchanged and covered on websites. Sometimes collectors of this information will compile very large files of these violations and publish them as something new, which researchers claim to have happened here.

That said, the story of Cyber ​​News seems to contradict the claims made by security researchers. He indicates that the data that has been discovered are “recent” and “not simply recycled from old violations”. The Cyber ​​News Story also includes a notice of non-responsibility which says: “This story, based on conclusions of unique cybernews originally published on the website on June 18, is constantly updated with clarifications and additional information in response to public discourse.” Gizmodo contacted Cyber ​​News to comment.

The violation is always interesting for the way it highlights the danger of a particular tool in the Dark Web Cretin toolbox, which is a malicious software known in an appropriate manner under the name of “Infostealer”. The infostaler – Just as it seems – is software which, once infected a device, will aspire the connection identification information that has been saved in the computer browser. A very effective tool, cybercriminals can use automated tools to quickly compile large lists of personal information that can be used for compromise operations on the road.

Whether it involves identification information freshly disclosed or not, it could be the right time to refresh your connections. Pirate jobs become easier by day.